Drop-In Services
Learn more about the planned drop-in center in the St. Johns Neighborhood.
Overview
Day centers serve as centralized locations for our community members to get out of the weather and access a variety of services in a safe, trauma-informed environment during operating hours. The St. Johns Day Center will NOT be an overnight shelter, but it will be to help refer people to overnight shelter and housing services as needed.
The day center will be located at 9000 N. Lombard St. in a former retail space that’s part of the Multnomah County North Portland Health Center.
The day center is expected to open in mid-November 2024.
The Day Center will primarily provide services for our houseless community members in St. Johns who would not otherwise have access to these services. Services will be drop-in with no referral needed. Services will include:
Do Good Multnomah is the nonprofit provider that will be running the day center. A veteran-priority homeless service provider, Do Good Multnomah offers a variety of housing services and operates eight unique shelter programs in the Portland metro area, including St. Johns Village. Since 2015, Do Good Multnomah has provided shelter to thousands of people experiencing homelessness and has housed more than 600 people.
Multnomah County’s investment in the North Portland Drop-In & Outreach Center is being funded by the Metro Supportive Housing Services Measure — part of a funding package approved by the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners in September 2023. In that package, the Board of Commissioners approved a total $3.3 million in funding to increase daytime services throughout the County.
The County has allocated about $500,000 for renovations to the site along with about $290,000 to cover operations and services provided by Do Good Multnomah.
Neighborhood Engagement
County leaders began scoping the site after local pastors expressed the need for a day center after the loss of a previous privately run space in the neighborhood business district — a place for people experiencing homelessness to attend recovery meetings, receive services, or just sit down for a cup of coffee during the day.
The location in the North Portland Health Center was identified as a possible location for the day center in 2023. The County already owns the location and it is currently vacant, so it will be ready on a shorter timeline than some other potential locations.
Based on past Point in Time Counts and the waitlist for the St. Johns Village shelter, we know there are about 75 unsheltered individuals who for one reason or another do not have regular access to hot food, showers, and other necessities in the St. Johns area.
By helping people get their needs met in a safe, nonjudgmental space and begin to take the first steps on their journey toward housing, the day center will respond to identified needs in the St. Johns neighborhood.
The Joint Office of Homeless Services and Do Good Multnomah are working to ensure that the day center will have a positive impact on both our housed and unhoused neighbors in the St. Johns neighborhood. It will serve as a resource for those in need, providing daytime services with pathways that connect people to longer-term services and support.
Multnomah County, the Joint Office of Homeless Services, and Do Good Multnomah have been engaging the local community through the St. Johns Neighborhood Association, the St. Johns Boosters and Venture Portland.
On Monday, Feb. 12, Do Good Multnomah and the Joint Office, represented by the department’s new community engagement coordinator, shared details and answered questions about the project at a St. Johns Neighborhood Association general meeting. Previously, Do Good Multnomah met with the St. Johns Boosters and the St. Johns Neighborhood Association’s Board members. The Joint Office is ramping up community engagement in the area, including a commitment to creating a Good Neighbor Agreement, helping ensure the center is an asset to the St. Johns neighborhood.
By providing people with a place to access longer-term services like shelter, and by setting clear boundaries with participants, Do Good Multnomah plans to help participants find resources that meet their needs in a way that doesn’t negatively impact others, helping maintain a safe and clean space for the neighborhood.
The site will accept donations of gently used clothing, coats, hats, gloves, blankets and new, unused toiletries (such as soap, shampoo, toothpaste, deodorant and shaving supplies).
Do Good Multnomah also accepts furniture to assist shelter participants moving into permanent housing.
For more information on how to get involved, please contact: info@dogoodmultnomah.org.
Related programs
The space at St. John’s Village isn’t currently set up to serve people who aren’t shelter residents who need drop-in services. Do Good Multnomah, which also manages St. Johns Village, hopes that having a day center within walking distance of St. Johns Village will allow people seeking drop-in services at St. Johns Village to be redirected to the day center, which will be able to meet their needs.
People receiving services at the day center will have the opportunity to be connected with longer-term services, including shelter. That could include the North Portland Road Temporary Alternative Shelter Site (TASS), a planned alternative shelter from the City of Portland.
For people already living at a TASS, many of the services at the day center — like showers and case management — will already be available to them through the TASS program. But Do Good Multnomah expects to collaborate with the TASS and other nearby shelters, and the people served by the day center will likely overlap with other nearby services.
